


O Me! O Life!

by BlackAngel001



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 9/11 tribute, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, doesn't follow show cannon, talks about 9/11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 14:11:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8017093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackAngel001/pseuds/BlackAngel001
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny was there.  Danny knew.  More importantly, Danny remembered.</p>
<p>This is my own tribute for today's 15th anniversary of 9/11.</p>
            </blockquote>





	O Me! O Life!

**Author's Note:**

> I know what the show says Danny was doing on 9/11. I’ve had this in my mind for him for years now, and I’m finally able to write it down. I couldn’t before, because I would always get emotional and wouldn’t be able to continue. I was 12 when 9/11 happened, and saw the footage from the second plane hitting, to both towers coming down. My dad was sent by his police department to New York to help in the rescue and recovery effort. This is basically his story.

“ _The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?_ ”

**September 12, 2001**

New York was the “City that never sleeps”; for all that, the city was shut down. For all that life was on hault, the city was wide awake. There were people everywhere, moving or standing still. Machines were on non stop. But the city was trying to get to what passed for normal these days.

He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on beyond his bubble of people, equipment, and rubble. He wasn’t entirely sure when he last slept, really slept. When he last ate something that didn’t taste like ash. When he last blinked that tears weren’t stinging his eyes if he thought too much instead of focusing on the here and now. All he really knew, was the days were blurring together just a bit, but he still knew exactly how many days had passed since Tuesday.

Someone passed him a bottle of water. His hands automatically twisted the cap, lifted the bottle to his mouth, and he chugged half of it down in one sitting. Danny sat on a...something. Piece of concrete, maybe a car, who knew? He sat on it anyway, because he needed to sit for just a moment. He surveyed Ground Zero with weary eyes. Occasionally, he heard the remains groan and creak like a living thing, and a stalled hush would fall on the rescue workers. Their breaths would be held until the groaning and creaking stopped and then their breaths exploded out of them at once. Danny ducked his head.

He’d responded with the patrol units to New York when the call went out. Hell, everyone did. Once they realized what was happening, people were sent to Manhattan to assist their fellow officers. A few remained behind to ensure safety in some of the big spots in Newark, but everyone who could get away with going went.

You didn’t ignore an officer in distress call, and this was the biggest one of them all.

Danny coughed and shifted his mask back into place. The dust and smoke were still a heavy cloud in the air. The sun was shining bright and warm, but you couldn’t tell here. Here, it was all dark and grey. It didn’t help the moods of the teams: determined, but depressed.

He’d called Rachel to tell her he loved her when he first left. To stay inside if she could; if she couldn’t, at least go to his parent’s house. Rachel knew something big had happened, something terrifying. She’d almost told him to come home, to not go. He’d heard it in her voice. He’d also heard when she’d steeled herself. He’d heard it in the way she said she loved him, to be careful, and that she was going to his parents to see if she could help somehow. Surely his mother would already be planning something.

He’d laughed, a bit. Because it was true. Mom had probably only known the barest details, but she’d have already started a drive of some kind, or started cooking. Rachel was a terrible cook, but she could organize like no one’s business. If they kept busy, they’d be alright.

Since then, he hadn’t talked to Rachel. He hadn’t talked to his mother, sisters, or brother, either. He didn’t have the time. He didn’t have the energy. His dad was here somewhere. Danny hadn’t seen him. But, he knew his father. The retired firefighter would have left as soon as he could to get over here, to start helping. He might’ve already crossed paths with him, and just didn’t know it.

A loud noise echoed through the space. People paused. The noise didn’t stop. Captains called for everyone to move back. Danny hopped up and started to wave people away from the rubble, and he started slowly moving back himself, keeping an eye out for anyone lagging. The calls to move became more insistent. People started sprinting. Danny started sprinting. There was a crash as bent steel and broken concrete crashed down, covering what they’d already uncovered.

A wave of disappointment washed over the crowd. That was followed by a grim setting of the shoulders. The worst had already happened. The only place left to go from here, was up.

Danny rotated his neck, stretched his arms. He tugged his gloves on a little more securely, ignoring the sting from what he was sure was bloody fingers where the steel penetrated.

The putrid smell of burnt rubber, fuel and what was probably bodies (although people were saying you couldn’t know that smell over all the others, not for sure) was starting to be something he could ignore. His body ached, deep in the muscle and bone but he kept moving. He kept coming back.

He’d always keep coming back, for however long he had to.

**September 12, 2016**

“...Daddy?”

Danny started himself out of his stupor. He blinked and looked around.

Instead of Ground Zero, New York, he was in Honolulu, Hawaii. In front of him wasn’t what was left of the WTC, but Pearl Harbor.

Before he’d left Newark, he’d never missed a 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero. He’d always gone to New York to remember and comfort. Now, he’d spent every 9/11 memorial since moving at Pearl Harbor. But, while the location had changed, the way he remembered didn’t.

In both hands, he held two single roses. Both had been carefully inspected that morning to ensure perfection in color, petals, and detail. As he stood at the railing, he put an arm around Grace. They bowed their heads. They said a prayer.

“For everyone who was taken from us,” he said softly as he dropped the first rose over the rail.

The dark red rose fluttered as it fell, then floated gracefully in the water.

“For my brothers and sisters,” he said just as quietly as he dropped the second one.

The yellow rose drifted near it’s mate, never too far apart.

Grace held her single pink carnation over the rail and said in a solemn voice, “We’ll never forget you,” before she also let hers fall to join the other two flowers.

Danny and Grace stood in silence for a moment. They watched the three flowers drift and then sink. They thought. They reflected. Danny on that day, the days that followed. The sweat, the blood, the tears, and the soul wrenching sobs he finally gave in to when he went home, collapsing into the arms of his wife and family. Grace thought about the little her father had told her about that time, what she’d learned in school, what she’d seen online. She’d found footage of course, and of course she watched it. Her heart clenched to think on it, to think of her father there. But she was also proud that he was.

Father and daughter stood there for a few minutes more. Then, Danny kissed the top of Grace’s head, she wrapped an arm around him, and together in silence, they walked away.

“ _Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> My family has always gone to our city memorial celebration, and we always bring one dark red rose, one yellow rose, and one pink carnation each. The dark red symbolises deep grief and mourning, the yellow are the strong ties between family and friends, and pink carnations are for remembrance.


End file.
